The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against a Connecticut ambulance service, American Medical Response, that may have wrongfully terminated an employee after she posted a rant about her supervisor on Facebook.
According to CNN, the employee’s disparaging comments about her supervisor may have been protected by the National Labor Act, which gives employees the right to form unions and discuss working conditions, and it prohibits employers from taking action against employees for sharing negative opinions about working conditions.
The National Labor Relations Board says that it is not legal for an employer to fire an employee for making comments about a supervisor on their own time in their own home on their own Facebook page. According to CNN, the case could set a precedent because employment law as it relates to social networking and social media on the Internet is largely “uncharted legal territory.”
The EMT’s employer maintains that they fired their employee not for her Facebook comments, but because of serious complaints about the employee’s behavior with patients on two occasions. The labor board will hold a hearing on the matter on January 25.
Source:
Labor board: Facebook vent against supervisor not grounds for firing (CNN)